Feb 1, The F40 put the crows feet on our stony editorial faces. It made our Here are twelve things you should know about the Ferrari F · Its sticker.

An expert explained its popularity among the Ferrari cognoscenti: The term of a design patent may not be extended by reissue. Retrieved 6 January It has no luggage space and getting in and out is awkward.

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The Ferrari F40 Type F is a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive sports car [5] built from to , with the LM and GTE race car versions continuing production until and respectively. At the time it was Ferrari's fastest, most powerful, and most expensive car for sale. Enzo's desire to leave a legacy in his final sports car allowed the Evoluzione program to be further developed to produce a car exclusively for road use. It isn't a laboratory for the future, as the is. It is not Star Wars. And it wasn't created because Porsche built the It would have happened anyway.

The body of the F40 was designed by Leonardo Fioravanti and Pietro Camardella of studio Pininfarina , under the guidance of Nicola Materazzi , the engineer who designed the engine, gearbox and other mechanical parts of the car and had previously designed the bodywork of the GTO Evoluzione, from which the F40 takes many styling cues from. Gearing, torque curves and actual power output differed among the cars.

The F40 did without a catalytic converter until , when US regulations made them a requirement for emissions control reasons. The flanking exhaust pipes guide exhaust gases from each bank of cylinders while the central pipe guides gases released from the wastegate of the turbochargers.

The suspension setup was similar to the GTO's double wishbone setup, though many parts were upgraded and settings were changed; the unusually low ground clearance prompted Ferrari to include the ability to raise the vehicle's ground clearance when necessary for later cars. The body was an entirely new design by Pininfarina featuring panels made of Kevlar , carbon fibre , and aluminium for strength and low weight, and intense aerodynamic testing employed. Weight was further minimised through the use of a polycarbonate plastic windshield and windows.

The cars did have moderate air conditioning, but had no sound system, door handles, glove box, leather trim, carpets, or door panels. The first 50 cars produced had sliding Lexan windows, while later cars were fitted with wind down windows. Cooling was important as the forced induction engine generated a great deal of heat. In consequence, the car was somewhat like an open-wheel racing car with a body. It had a partial undertray to smooth airflow beneath the radiator, front section, and the cabin, and a second one with diffusers behind the engine, but the engine bay was not sealed.

The car saw competition as early as when it debuted in the Laguna Seca Raceway round of the IMSA , appearing in the GTO category, with a LM evolution model driven by Jean Alesi , finishing third to the two faster spaceframed four wheel drive Audi 90 and beating a host of other factory backed spaceframe specials that dominated the races, the following race it had to retire after 18 rounds.

The next season there, under a host of guest drivers such as Jean-Pierre Jabouille , Jacques Laffite and Hurley Haywood three second places and one third were achieved as best results. No longer competitive against the newly entered McLaren F1 GTR , the Ferrari F40 returned for another year in , managing to repeat the previous year's Anderstorp win, and from then on it was no longer seen in GT racing.

The F40 Competizione is a non-sponsored, more powerful version of the F40 LM, which was the result of consumer requests following the order of a French importer who wanted to enter one in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Ferrari F40 Competizione has a power to weight ratio of 1. Both were limited production cars with only 29 built, so while the F40 never was the world's fastest sports car as self-appraised by Ferrari, it could still claim the title of the fastest production car with over units built until the arrival of the Lamborghini Diablo. Test results by AMS:.